The Grass Is Always Greener
by Little Boy of Lothering
Summary: Be careful what you with for, whispered the age-old saying in the back of his mind. With a groan, he punched a tree before walking away, not noticing the cuts and splitters causing blood to drip to ground. Read and review. Pairing undecided.


Hey. I'd originally written this story a while back with Kurama and Hiei there as well, but I couldn't fit in all three, so I just went with Yusuke. If you've already read it, it's basically the same. This probably won't be as popular as some of my other stories, but I hope so!

Pairings are up for you to decide, though I'm keeping at least some cannon.

* * *

Yusuke found himself yawning, stretching with his hand over his head, before lying back against the grassy hill, eyes focused on the clouds in a half-asleep state. For once his hair wasn't gelled back, black hair covering his eyes, tickling his nose. Kuwabara had cut it the night before, right before he fell asleep. It would've been fine, except that his friend cut it a bit wrong, and it was still a bit longer than he would've liked. But after defeating a human as high as an S-class demon, and finding out that he was a half-demon was enough to make anyone exhausted. Basically the moment he hit Kuwabara's couch, he'd been out. Even for Urameshi Yusuke, all that at the age of fifteen was a bit hard to deal with.

And now the teenager just felt…empty. Koenma had managed to convince his father to overlook "what Yusuke was" and let him stay Spirit Detective, saying that he was the best out there and they needed him. But said Spirit Detective knew it was only an effort to keep him on Ningenkai, rather than going to Makai. Even Hiei couldn't go back, since the hole was closed and as A-class now, he was too strong to go to or from. He was pissed beyond belief of course, since he was completely stuck with the team no matter what now. Where he was at the moment though, Yusuke had no idea. Kurama went straight home to his mother, almost having a panic attack because he realized he hadn't told her where he was. Kuwabara and Keiko were both at school.

To put it simply, the teenage detective was completely alone, with nothing to do other than stare at the clouds and try not to think about the day before. He'd said he wanted to come back, but he wasn't quite sure if he did. Part of him was happy he did, the other half wished that he were still in Makai, so he could find that asshole of a father who messed with his fight. Maybe he was just thinking about it all wrong, though. Maybe he just needed to go away for a while, get a change of scenery, get away from his mom and Keiko. It wasn't that they bothered him…no, that was it. No matter how hard he tried to deny it, he did seem to have "feelings" for Keiko, but that didn't stop him from wanting to take a step away from all her nagging and worrying, when she barely understood what was going on. And his mom…well, he was officially sick of having to take care of her every time she came home completely wasted with an equally wasted guy. In the morning, it was _his _job to take care of _her _problems. Always had been and goddamn if he wanted a break once in a while. His friends…well, his friends he could probably stick with for the rest of his life and not mind, no matter how often they were at other throats.

"Hey, Botan," he said quietly before the blue-haired ferry girl could say anything. Quietly, she slipped off her oar and sat next to him. "What're you doing here?" The last part was slurred as he yawned again, not bothering to cover his mouth because he never claimed to be polite in the first place.

"Hello, Yusuke," she said brightly, usual smile in place, but something was a bit off. It looked less real than usual.

With a shake of his head, he sat up, lighting a cigarette and putting it in his mouth, the acid smoke twisting and turning like a thin, grey snake in the air. "Did the toddler send you?" he asked sullenly, already knowing what the answer was.

"Well, yes." The usually cheerful girl sounded a bit hesitant, making Yusuke look over at her, eyes still only half-open, cigarette now out of his mouth and laying between his two fingers. For once, she didn't take it away. "And no. King Emna technically asked for you and just you, and Koenma and I are just used at the middle men per say."

"What? Does he want to send me back to Makai so I don't eat any humans or something?" His tone was sarcastic, even if he knew that was probably the answer. "Or does he want me up there to go and have tea with him to congratulate me on all the amazing work I've done for the past five days?"

"Why, aren't we in a foul mood today." Yusuke opened his mouth to answer to that, but she continued. "And no, it's neither. In fact, they want you for another mission, but for some reason only you. It seems urgent, too. There's a man up there practically begging for help and I've never seen him before."

"Well, you can tell—" He stopped and blinked, just staring at the girl sitting cross-legged next to him. "What?"

"Koenma would like me to apologize for this in advanced, since we know how difficult yesterday's work was for you."

There was a silent moment while Yusuke took a drag, wishing the cigarette took take away all his tension. He was _never _in this type of mood unless fighting, and he was hopping tobacco and nicotine would do the trick of getting rid of it.

"So a mission right after a mission," he said flatly, putting out the cigarette on the dirt so he couldn't start a fire, deciding that it wasn't working the way he wanted, so there was no use killing his lungs. Though with demon blood in him, was it even possible to kill his lungs? He shook away the thought; there were better things to be paying attention to now.

"Well, yes, unfortunately." His friend stood up and held her hand out for him. He hesitated before taking it. "I'll take you to him right away. The man apparently _demanded _to see the best person Koenma had, which was obviously you…"

Yusuke snickered, knowing that it was true, or he wouldn't be back in the first place. "Fine," he answered. "Just take me there. Anyone else coming?" The wind blew his hair across his nose and he pushed away, extremely annoyed with it at this point. He probably should've asked Kuwabara's sister to cut it, rather than the idiot himself. And now he was just wishing he had some hair gel.

"Well, yes, we're very sorry. Koenma wanted to send the others too, but the man said there'd only have to be one person." Yusuke turned at looked at her.

"Not even Kuwabara?" He felt his heart sink a bit, thinking his friend would probably be able to raise his mood a bit with a fight, because that's what he needed right now. A fight. No spirit stuff involved, no "to the death." Just a plain, simple, old-fashion fight.

"No," Botan replied. "Apparently this is a long-term mission, so Koenma needs a few people to stay here in Japan just incase something else comes up—though if something big does, you'll be called back." A portal opened before them and they stepped through, Botan floating on her oar, feet just barely above the ground. She apparently didn't feel the need to walk today. He smirked.

"Hello, Koenma, sir," she greeted with a smile as she opened the door, the extremely pissed off teenager in tow.

"Yo," was all he said as a greeting, sliding back to stand against the wall. His eyes took in around the room, ignoring Botan and the toddler as they fought over why it took her so long to from Yusuke when he was only on a hill near his school. Then he stopped, and did a double-take, almost not noticing the man standing in the corner, his greasy black hair hanging over his pale face like an oily curtain. Whoever he was, he sure as hell wasn't from around here.

"Hello, I am Severus Snape," the man said, his voice as oily as his hair. Though speaking Japanese, his accent was obviously from one of the more western countries, like Europe or America or something of the sort, and the words didn't seem to fit. _Now _Yusuke was interested. "Or as you would say in your country, Snape Severus."

Yusuke nodded, uncharacteristically quiet.

"Mister Snape here has a very important job for the you, Yusuke," Koenma cut in, almost as if to stop him from flat-out saying no when he heard it (which was exactly something he would do). "And—"

"Mister Snape" interrupted the junior god of Hell, his oily voice sneaking it's way into the conversation. "Yes, thank you, Koenma, sir. As I was about to say, two sides of the same war what your assistance." Yusuke's eyes narrowed, something about the man making him distrust him immediately. "You see, you're going to have to play the role of a 'double agent' much as I do myself. I come from England, and I work as a potions master in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"Okay, what the fuck?" The tension around the half-demon (as discovered less than twenty-four hours before) was already too high and raising, and the fact that this mission was beginning to sound like some bad joke was just enough to make him snap. "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?" The name—though now said in Japanese from him to understand—sounded weird on his tongue. "That sounds like something from some cheesy fantasy novel. If it weren't for the fact that the toddler over there is just letting you talk and I wasn't sucked into something just as crazy already, I wouldn't even believe. And in England? What the hell does this have to do with us? I can't just pack my bags and go to Europe without parental notice. My mom would kill me." _Not that she'd notice, _whispered the back of his mind. He shook it away; of course she would.

"Yusuke, calm down," Botan said quickly, next to him. He hadn't realized she was there. "Just let the man speak. He's here for a reason."

Reluctantly, he just leaned back against the wall, glaring daggers at the floor, but listening. For a moment he felt his ki spike, and a cut appeared on Botan's arm, and she winced, looking over in surprised. After a second, it went down and he felt a bit better, giving her an apologetic look.

"I work as a potions master at school of magic." Snape didn't skip a beat, just continued talking as if there'd been no interrupting in the first place. "And yes, Urameshi, that's exactly what I'm asking." The Spirit Detective didn't look up at the use of his name, just continued his silent inner battle with his anger to keep it under control until he could do something about it. "We've already asked your mother permission, and she gave it." Yusuke's head shot up. So the bastard had asked without even telling him first. Figured, since that was the way most adults are. "You are to attend this school as students, but first you're going to learn what you're doing over the summer. This task will be taken from two parts. Like I said already, you're services were demanded from both sides, and you will pretend to work for both sides, though you are in fact only working for one.

"On one side you will be working as a spy where you'll communicate through me, though unless told otherwise, you'll give false information. On the other side that you will really be working for, you will be protecting a specific boy, as well as the entire school. Harry Potter—Potter Harry," he corrected himself for Yusuke to understand. "Will be your main priority. I am not sure if you will meet the Dark Lord, but I hope for your sake that you do not."

There was a silent moment after his speech. Then:

"What did you tell my mom?"

Yusuke asked the question without even meaning to, but she would have to be told something, so he wanted to know what. The fact that he _had _to go on this stupid mission (most likely to keep himself in Ningenkai, even when he wasn't sure if he wanted to be there in the first place) and that he had no choice in the matter sure as hell wasn't making his day any better, or easier. Goddamn, he'd pick his fight against Toguro over this at the moment; at least the aftermath a fight would make feel better.

"That you, Urameshi, were going off to London for a year in an exchange student program. I even showed her a letter." Snape had a bored tone to his voice, almost drawing out in his words. It gave Yusuke the creeps, and made his skin crawl, though he supposed it could've been something to do with the mood he was in. Something about the man just felt…off, though Yusuke couldn't place why. Nothing necessarily bad, just off. There was no other way to put it. "She believed it surprisingly easily. Of course it was _after _that that I was told she already knew about it in the first place." He shot a look at Koenma.

Well, someone apparently hadn't learned manners as a kid.

Okay, so maybe Yusuke didn't either. He only grumbled a bit and nodded and watched as Snape's lips twitch into a smile.

"Good to hear you all agree. Now you'll meet me here tomorrow and you will arrive in England by portkey where you will meet up with Professor Dumbledore. A portkey is a object with a very strong spelled placed on it that will allow you to travel over vast distances in a matter of seconds." The tone he used implied that he felt he was better than him, and that this knowledge was common sense the Japanese _non-wizard _was supposed to know. "Arrive about seven-thirty tomorrow morning—"

Suddenly he registered what the greasy English potions master of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was saying. "Tomorrow? Tomorrow? Just like that? No warning to things together? I'm going halfway across the world with less than a days notices." He grumbled something and left the room, annoyance coming off him in waves. Apparently all that tension hadn't gone away.

About a minute later, Botan exited and he could hear Koenma talking to Professor Snape (as he assumed he was called) about something.

"We're supposed to show up with our things tomorrow at seven-thirty. I'll wake you if you want," she said, sliding up next to him.

"Yeah, yeah," he answered, moving his hair out of his face. "Whatever you want. Can't believe I have to go on this damn mission anyway. This is so fucked up." He shook his head, refraining the urge to kick the wall in front of him. "So where am I we going to end up?"

"Apparently with Professor Dumbledore before he goes off to find Harry Potter. Then we'll be taught how to use wands." Botan looked uncertain, like she wasn't quite sure any of this would work. Yusuke felt the same.

"Joyful." His tone was sarcastic.

"Oh, come on, Yusuke," Botan said, giving his hand a squeeze. "No need to get like this, now. It doesn't sound all that bad."

"Can you just open up the portal already?"

"Fine, fine."

And she did so, letting him out into a forest near Genkai's temple. She stayed for a moment before leaving. He was left alone in the middle of the woods.

_Be careful what you with for, _whispered the age-old saying in the back of his mind.

With a groan, he punched a tree before walking away, not noticing the cuts and splitters causing blood to drip to ground.


End file.
